WASHINGTON, D.C.-Sprint Nextel Corp.’s $6.5 billion purchase of iDEN affiliate Nextel Partners Inc. has passed muster with U.S. antitrust authorities.
The Federal Trade Commission issued a notice that it had ended its review of the transaction without taking action to stop it. Analysts had expected the approval to be rapid, since the two companies were considered as one by federal regulators during scrutiny of previous deals.
Sprint Corp.’s purchase of Nextel Communications Inc. included Nextel’s 32-percent stake in Nextel Partners, as well as a put option that gave Nextel Partners the ability to force Sprint Nextel to purchase the remaining 68 percent of the company it did not own. The companies agreed on a price of $28.50 per share in December.
The acquisition of Nextel Partners is expected to close in the second quarter of 2006.
